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Backdrops

You can add a Backdrop to any page through the “Backdrop” icon (in the top menu bar). Backdrops range from simple — gradients and still images — to the complex — slideshows, videos and interactive animations.

Page Layout with Backdrops

By default, the backdrop is rendered behind the active page. If that page has a Content Background color chosen through the page settings, that color will be displayed over the backdrop.

Use the “Split with page content” option to display the backdrop side-by-side with the page content, as if the browser viewport were a two-page editorial spread. Use the “Width” scrubber inside the settings to change the relative widths of the backdrop and page content. At mobile viewport dimensions, a split backdrop will display above the page content instead of next to it.

Use the “Clip when scrolling” option to fix the backdrop content to the browser viewport permanently. Instead of scrolling out of view when the page content does, the page content will instead “clip” the backdrop as it scrolls in or out of the viewport. This effect is most noticeable when used with stacked pages inside a set.

Experimenting with Backdrops

Each backdrop is controlled by several if not a dozen or more parameters; overcome this complexity to find a combination of settings that uniquely fits your site design.

To get started, use the Randomize button in the top right corner of the Backdrop Settings to discover the range of possibilities within a single backdrop. From there, experiment with the individual settings to see how each one interacts with the image you’ve chosen and the page as a whole.

With the exception of Gradient, all backdrops are image-based. Since each backdrop treats each image differently, an image that looks good in one backdrop will not necessarily work well in others.

All backdrops will crop and/or enlarge images so that they fill the entire surface area of the page. The Wallpaper backdrop also includes the option to "Set Focal Point", which allows you to pick a point in your image that will always be visible regardless of the size of the browser viewport. This is useful for ensuring a specific feature of an image will never be cropped out of view.

Wallpaper and Video backdrops start with the default setting "Fill Window". This can be switched to "Fit Window" which scales your media to fit the confines of the page layout, with no cropping.

The Wallpaper backdrop has a “Display as Slideshow” option and the Morph backdrop has a “Cycle” option. Both display any number of images in succession, as in a slideshow. To exclude an image, click the ‘-’ icon when hovering a thumbnail in the Images menu at the top of the Backdrop window (and to re-include an image, click the ‘+’ icon.)

The Video backdrop requires a video URL. YouTube and Vimeo URLs are supported, as well as videos uploaded to your site. For an uploaded video, open the Images menu, hover over the video, and click the “↗︎” button to open it in a new tab. Copy the URL from the address bar and paste it into the “URL” field in the Backdrop panel. Videos over 25MB are uploaded to the Files menu instead. To get the URL, open the Files menu and click “Copy URL.” Videos in Backdrops autoplay and are muted.